This photo shows a view of the LyondellBasell Refinery near the Houston Ship Channel, part of the Port of Houston, on April 29, 2026.
Ronaldo Shemit | AFP | Getty Images
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said the United States would suspend naval escort operations in the Strait of Hormuz, raising hopes for a possible deal with Iran.
International benchmark futures brent Crude oil prices for July delivery fell 1.92% to $107.77 per barrel as of 2:05 a.m. ET. west texas intermediate Futures fell 2% to $100.1 per barrel.
President Trump announced in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday that he would temporarily halt Project Freedom, a military operation launched the day before to escort commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, due to progress in negotiations with Iran toward a final deal.
Brent oil
The Trump administration announced that about 23,000 sailors from ships from 87 countries are stranded in the Persian Gulf due to Iran’s de facto blockade of the strait.
Nicolo Botchin, co-head of fixed income at Azimut Group, warned that soaring oil and energy prices were already causing demand destruction globally, adding that even if waterways reopened, it would still take “many weeks” for shipping and trade flows to normalize.
